Question about what software or if need to use more than one...

[jeschainks-jrchase]

I am sorry, I have been trying to read through everything, but I cannot find any information to help me with this. 

Recently, a friend of mine told me that a silly java applet from 1999 (Teddy) could let a person draw by hand and then see that form as a 3D form, and you can even build off of that. I saw it.... it CAN! Meanwhile, I have been trying to patiently learn moving all these points in Maya, and I thought, really.... 1999??? Someone else told me that Blender has a similar process, but I cannot find anyway to do this in Maya, should I be using Inventor? Or another program? I know Autodesk must have something like this... please help me find it... I can 2D very well, but 3D poses some patience problems! LOL

[DarrenP]

don't really get what your trying to accomplish
need more details

[jeschainks-jrchase]

I have a Wacom drawing tablet monitor, and I draw in Photoshop (and some of the other programs) but I want to draw in a 3D program. I was talking about this and a friend referred me to Teddy - http://www-ui.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~takeo/teddy/teddy/teddy.html 

Well, obviously, I cannot save from there, but I saw the year on it and said, well... obviously, autocad must be able to do this, I just don't know the right program. I have been trying to do the Maya programs, but I have been drawing all my life and it just isn't the same - I want to draw like this java applet in Maya or another program.

Can you help me figure out which Autocad program to use so that I can start those lessons?

[SBix26]

Can't give you any useful information until you tell us what kind of 3D content you want to create.  Modeling cars is different from modeling action figures.  Modeling machinery is different from modeling consumer products.  All these are very different from modeling virtual worlds for a gaming environment, and even more different from modeling buildings, and from modeling waterways and roads.

Notice that I used the word "modeling" throughout, because "drawing" is a 2D thing.  So, tell us what kinds of things you want to model, and someone will be glad to recommend a tool or tools to do what you want.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Please click "Accept as Solution" if this response answers your question.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventor Professional 2013 SP1.1 Update 2
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M
SpaceExplorer/SpaceNavigator NB, driver 3.16.2
still waiting for a foreshortened radius dimensioning tool in Drawing Manager

[jeschainks-jrchase]

Well, did anyone else see Teddy? I am not as concerned with the modeling as the simplicity. You very literally draw on the screen, the program makes it 3D - it isn't the smoothest or even perfectly accurate, but you could break your image up into parts and do each of them - then attach them. Some things you would probably have to modify with the same tools as Maya if you wanted it to look correct. You could not draw perfect symmetry like primatives. 

No, I will probably never do cars or mechanical/technical drawings with the tool. I want to draw teddy bears, dragons, statues, people, cartoons. No, I do not want any information that does not use the pen and an actually drawing type environment. I never liked clay, it was fun to play with but it never really did what I wanted.

The program I found was a java applet that is about 14 years old, it is EXACTLY what I want to do, except that I need it in a program - or an add-on to like Maya. 

In the silly little 3D program, if you draw a circle - or any other weird shape - it transfers to the 3D image by giving it rounded points - just like you had made it out of a prim but you didn't have to pull and prode points, you draw the shape. It makes awesome cartoon hands and legs and such. 🙂 I am downloading the entertainment center and then I will check out inventor. 

Quite literally, I want to draw in a 3D modeling program. Do any programs in the Autodesk family do that?

[Curtis_Waguespack]

HI jeschainks-jrchase,

Have a look at Autodesk Alias.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ6Ij2-V_O8

http://usa.autodesk.com/alias/features/

Maybe also Autodesk Mudbox:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjmyIT4na9g

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=13565063&siteID=123112

I hope this helps.
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[SBix26]

That helps.  I don't have broad enough experience to recommend a good tool for you, but I can tell you that Inventor is not the one you want.  Inventor's strength is precisely defined machine parts.  It can be used for more organic, swoopy stuff, but it requires a great deal of experience and a lot of work.  I think JD Mather has posted images of work that one of his students did in Inventor (was that a model of Scooby-Doo?) along the lines that you are thinking, but that's not what Inventor is good at.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Please click "Accept as Solution" if this response answers your question.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventor Professional 2013 SP1.1 Update 2
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M
SpaceExplorer/SpaceNavigator NB, driver 3.16.2
still waiting for a foreshortened radius dimensioning tool in Drawing Manager

[jeschainks-jrchase]

My son said the same thing, but he is technical and mechanical, so I was hoping he was wrong LOL.

Looking at Alias based on the other post recommendation.

Thank you!